Date, location announced for Rev. Cynthia Meyer trial

Bishop Scott J. Jones of the Great Plains Conference announced today that a location has been selected for the church trial for the Rev. Cynthia Meyer.

The church trial, scheduled to begin Aug. 24, will be conducted at the Brown Grand Theatre, 310 W. Sixth St. in Concordia, Kansas.

Meyer stated in a letter to her district superintendent earlier this year that she was in a “committed relationship” with another woman. The conference’s Committee on Investigation, which serves the role of a grand jury, decided in June that there was enough evidence to move the proceedings to a church trial on charges associated with Rev. Meyer allegedly being a self-avowed, practicing homosexual.

Under the Book of Discipline, the denomination’s book of law and procedure, The United Methodist Church does not allow self-avowed, practicing homosexuals to serve as ordained clergy.

The case could be resolved with what is defined in the Discipline as a “just resolution” at any point prior to the trial. Counsel for Rev. Meyer and for the Church are scheduled to meet in an agreed-upon mediation in early August.

“We are all aware that conversations about a just resolution agreement are continuing,” Bishop Jones said in a letter to the interested parties. “If such an agreement is reached, the complaint will be resolved and all trial preparations will be cancelled. We all agree that a church trial is ‘to be regarded as an expedient of last resort.’ However, it is also the respondent’s right to have one. Thus, these preparations will continue in case no just resolution agreement is reached.”